Gang Lu

Background

Gang Lu was a Chinese graduate student in physics at the University of Iowa. He believed a scholarship should have been awarded to Chan Lin-hua, a rival student, instead of to him. He believed violence with a handgun was a proper means for resolving this dispute.

Gang Lu received his doctoral degree the previous May and continued to plan revenge on his college’s physics department should his appeal fail. Professor Chris Goertz directed the research that Gang Lu was involved in for his Ph.D. Professor Robert “Bob” Smith collaborated with Chris on part of the research. Gang Lu appealed the scholarship award to Chan Lin-hua with Dwight Nicholson, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa. Dwight Nicholson was confident to Gang Lu that the decision would be overturned. The appealed award was denied by the office of the vice-president for academic affairs.

In the months before the shootings, Gang Lu wrote five letters explaining the reasons for his planned actions. According to university officials, four of the letters were in English and were intended to be sent to news organizations, and one was in Chinese. The letters had not been released to the public.

According to the university, Gang Lu said in the letters that he was angry and jealous that his doctoral dissertation had not received a prestigious academic award. Linhua Shan received the award. Writer Jo Ann Beard later wrote an acclaimed personal essay based in part on the killings. The essay was called “The Fourth State of Matter,” originally published in The New Yorker, appeared in the 1997 edition of Best American Essays, and was later published in her collection of personal essays, The Boys of My Youth.

Based on Gang Lu’s story, director Chen Shi-zheng made a feature film, “Dark Matter,” starring Liu Ye and Meryl Streep. The film won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. A documentary about the life of the lone survivor, Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, entitled Miya of the Quiet Strength, was released in 2009. Gang Lu also left instructions with acquaintances to mail the letters, and the letters were apparently turned over to the authorities after the shootings.

The offence

On Friday, November 1, 1991, Gang Lu committed a shooting rampage on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa. He used a .38 caliber revolver and carried a .22 caliber handgun. He shot and killed five people on the Iowa campus, seriously wounded another, and then committed suicide.

Gang Lu attended a physics and astronomy department meeting in Van Allen Hall. During a regularly weekly meeting, around 3:40 this afternoon, he abruptly stood up and left the meeting. He went to the floor below to check whether Dwight was in his office. Dwight was working there quietly. Gang Lu returned to the meeting upstairs carrying the handgun.

Chris Goertz was sitting closest to the door. Gang Lu killed Chris with a shot to the back of his head. Gang Lu then assassinates his rival, Chan Lin-hua, with a bullet to the forehead. As the shot was fired, it shattered his glasses as well as taking his life. The shooting caused the people in the room to scramble for cover or to find a way out. Bob attempted to crawl underneath the table. Gang Lu took two steps toward Bob and shot him in the right hand and chest. Bob collapsed to the floor and Gang Lu left the room.

As Gang Lu headed downstairs and reloaded the gun, he reached Dwight’s office, stood in the doorway, and fired a round into his head. The next shot missed the mark, so Gang Lu fired another round into Dwight’s head. Dwight R. Nicholson died at his desk.

Gang Lu then recalled he left Bob alive upstairs. He rushed back upstairs and into the meeting room. Two young scientists were crouched over Bob loosening his clothes and talking to him. From where Bob was on the floor, Chris’s head was visible at an unnatural angle. Gang Lu ordered the two young scientists out of the room at gunpoint. He returned to Bob and fired two bullets into his head, killing him. Gang Lu then plugged two more bullets into Chris and one more into Chan to ensure Chris and Chan were dead.

Gang Lu left the building, crossed two streets, entered another building, and went to the second floor. He talked with Miya Sioson, a young student working as a temp for Vice-President for Academic Affairs T. Anne Cleary, who had denied his scholarship appeal. Miya called Anne out of her office and Anne talked briefly with Gang Lu before he raised the gun and shot her in the face. Miya began to stand up when Gang Lu turned and fired on her. The bullet tore through her mouth and spinal cord. Gang Lu reloads, climbs to the top of the stairs, and begins to hear shouts from police. He entered an empty conference room, took off his jacket, folded it, and then killed himself, twelve minutes after he fired the first shot.

Victims

Victims included:

• T. Anne Cleary
• Christoph K. Goertz
• Chan Lin-hua
• Dwight R. Nicholson
• Robert “Bob” Alan Smith
• Gang Lu (1963 - November 1, 1991)

Miya Rodolfo-Sioson was seriously wounded, left a quadriplegic, and later died in 2008 from breast cancer.

Investigation and letters

Gang Lu had written five letters outlining reasons and planned actions. Four of the letters were in English and intended for news organizations, and one was written in Chinese. The letters had never been released to the public. University officials said the letters were intended to be mailed to news organizations, and another letter in Chinese was intended for his native Beijing.

Arrest

No arrest occurred because Gang Lu committed suicide at the scene as police arrived.

Sentencing

No sentencing occurred.

Outcome

Gang Lu committed suicide by shooting himself after killing five people on the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, Iowa on November 1, 1991. T. Anne Cleary died the following day, and Miya Rodolfo-Sioson survived but was left a quadriplegic.

Aftermath

On the day after the shootings, November 2, a Saturday, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Football team, coached by Hayden Fry, would honor those that were killed by stripping their game helmets of all markings in a symbolic gesture of mourning. The Hawkeyes went on to win their game against Ohio State.

Other details

Gang Lu was described as a brilliant loner by colleagues. He was 28 years old and believed he had been passed over for an academic honor. He was born in Beijing, China. His surname was Lu, and his Chinese name was 卢刚 Lú Gāng. He was still living in Iowa City after he finished school.

Gang Lu applied for a gun permit in May 1991 and received it. He purchased a handgun in July. He spent the next several months shooting the gun at practice ranges until he was dead on target. He continued to plan his revenge on his college’s physics department should his appeal fail.

Gang Lu was portrayed in popular culture through the film “Dark Matter,” based on his story.